The beautiful beaches of Mogadishu: Somali youths relax along the beachside on the outskirts of Mogadishu for the first time in such great numbers since a surge in violence between al-Shabab Islamist militants and forces loyal to the embattled Somali government in recent years. (STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

Mogadishu, long feared as the (unofficial) World's Most Dangerous City, is forging a new reputation: beachfront paradise.

So say journalists who visited the seaside Somali capital in recent months, and left raving about Mogadishu's beautiful Indian Ocean beaches, fresh lobster and entrepreneurs returning to open restaurants and hotels.

The Associated Press described a new restaurant in an area of Mogadishu transformed from no-go zone to go-to destination (though customers must pass through security sweeps, and are protected by armed guards):

"Shirtless male swimmers reclined on lounge chairs nearby. Women in full-body bathing suits splashed in the ocean. Ice cream, seafood and hookah pipes are on the menu, though alcohol is not served since it is outlawed by the government," the story said.

Islamist militia group Al Shabab withdrew from Mogadishu last August following a government offensive, and African Union troops pushed out more of the militants in October.

After decades of war, Somali expats are taking advantage of the peace and coming home, along with foreign embassies and UN workers who had relocated to neighboring Kenya, another AP report said.

In another sign that Mogadishu is coming back to life, the city is even getting dry cleaners after going without for more than 20 years.

The BBC reported that 24-year-old Somali entrepreneur Mohamed Mahamoud Sheik decided to open "Somali Premium Laundry" after noticing that businessmen were taking their suits abroad just to get them clean.

Despite all the excited reports, Mogadishu hasn't arrived just yet: many buildings are bullet-riddled, bombed-out ruins, and the city still faces suicide attacks and roadside bombs.

In March, the National Theater re-opened in Mogadishu after two decades of being shut down. But just weeks later, Al Shabaab-linked militants set off of a suicide bomb at the theater that killed eight people including the head of Somalia's Olympic committee and the country's football chief.

Still, optimistic Somali government spokesman Abdirahman Omar Osman told the AP that Mogadishu is safer today than Baghdad or Kabul — and a tourism minister may even be appointed to attract tourists to the city.

The word news most often conjures up visions of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the troubled global economy, a political crisis in Washington, erupting volcanoes and devastating earthquakes. But as we all know, there is far more to news than that. Indeed, it’s often the wacky, weird, offbeat and sometimes off-color stories that can most intrigue and fascinate us. Those stories can range from changing astrological signs to lost pyramids in Egypt but in their essence they all cast new light on the shared human condition in all of its wild diversity.